Up and Away
by Uriko8
Summary: One day after Ginny's graduation from hogwarts, an event occurs that changes everyone's life. How will Ginny deal with it? And what will she do whan she discovers a new evil out to destroy Harry Potter
1. Fall in Two

Disclaimer: All the characters you have heard of before are the property of J.K. Rowling. All the new ones belong to me. The quotes at the beginning of the chapters belong to Guster as do the chapter titles.

Key: ------------- = Beginning and end of chapter

OOOOOO = Flashback

888888888 = Scene Change

Chapter 1: Fall in Two 

"...but he lied to himself again. Closing doors and locking locks he looked inside himself, only to find a deep down fear..."

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Ginny Weasley couldn't sleep. Lying awake in the room she had inhabited all her life, in the house she had inhabited all her life. The quiet didn't help. This only provided space to be filled with her thoughts, thoughts that tended to drift towards the depressing, because that was all she had at the moment. The house shouldn't have been that quiet. That was what her mind kept latching on to. The house was supposed to have other noises than the sound of her own breathing and the regular night noises outside of her open window. There was supposed to be the sound of people getting up for a snack in the night, or moving around in their sleep. But no, those sounds were forever gone. Ginny closed her eyes and was powerless against the memories of the previous week...

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Ginny smiled as she soared through the air after the bludger that had been hit in her general direction. Quidditch was one of her favorite things, not to mention playing it with her friends. She was at her friend Lucy Carter's house for a graduation party. Ginny was on a team with Lucy's twin brother, Eric, and two of Lucy's uncles. Lucy's team was comprised of her boyfriend, John King, and two of their other school friends. They didn't have enough people for full teams but Ginny didn't mind. Quidditch was quidditch.

Ginny quickly reached the bludger and sent it sailing towards John who had the quaffle. John dodged it on his way to the makeshift hoop at the other end of the yard while Ginny turned and looked toward Eric, who had a devious look on his face. Ginny understood that look, knew it well. It was time for their favorite trick. Ginny quickly found the bludger again as Eric quickly and quietly sailed towards John. Ginny soon reached the bludger and began hitting it back and forth in front of her as she moved towards John. Eric was already floating discretely behind John who was now almost within shooting range of the post. As Ginny finally reached the same place as Eric and John, she sent the bludger flying right by John's right ear. He was so startled by this, he sent his shot wildly to the left, and right in to the hands of the agile Eric who had been waiting to see which direction the quaffle would fly. Using the superior speed of his broom, Eric sped to the other end of the field and scored a beautiful shot, speeding the quaffle right between the keeper's legs.

It was as Ginny was speeding towards Eric to congratulate him that she got a funny feeling in her chest like something was wrong. She stopped her broom and looked around only to find Lucy's mother, Kelly, running towards the field shouting to every one to come down. The queasy feeling in Ginny's gut instantly became ten times worse as she flew in a daze down to Lucy's mother.

"What's wrong Kelly?" Ginny asked, frightened. The older woman got a sad look on her face when she looked at Ginny among all the other people.

"There's been a battle. Minerva McGonagall just told us through the fireplace. It seems she's been working her way south, informing wizarding families along the way of the happenings along with several other people. She said the battle happened far north of here, so that's why the news took so long to arrive. She also said that it should still be going on, and they need all the help they can get. All of us adults are going to apparate up there to aid in any way we can. We need you all to stay here. We do not want any of you children in any danger."

"Mom!" Eric and Lucy yelled at the same time. They looked at each other briefly before Lucy continued. "We're not children anymore. We're all 18 except uncle Bob and uncle Greg and they're well over that age. Also, we have all graduated from Hogwarts. Note that being the purpose for the party. If they need all the help they can get, we're coming too!"

"Yah!" The rest of the group yelled.

"Please Kelly," Ginny pleaded. "I'm sure my whole family is there and I would feel so much better if I could be there to help them in any way I can" The sad look returned to Kelly's eyes at that. It was then that Ginny knew something was really wrong. "What's really going on Kelly?" Ginny asked quietly. A false brightness came to Kelly's eyes then.

"Nothing dear! Anyway, I suppose you all are right. You can come, but if you are not careful I will not be responsible for what happens." At that, they all began running towards the house to get the rest of their group, and ten minutes later they all apparated to the scene of the battle.

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All Ginny could think upon seeing the carnage all around her was that this field probably used to be a beautiful place. Maybe full of wild flowers and butterflies. Now it was a vast plain of red and black with only one figure standing there other than the members of their group. This figure was Harry Potter.

"Harry!" Ginny yelled as she ran towards her brother's best friend. He was standing so still, just looking down at his feet like they were the most interesting things he had ever seen in his life. It wasn't until she had gotten much closer that she noticed he was crying. "Harry," she said again as she finally reached him. "What happened?" Before he could answer, Ginny finally really looked around at the details of her surroundings. What she saw sent all the blood rushing from her face as her heart broke in a million pieces. Lying practically in a straight line behind Harry was Ginny's entire family, all motionless and not breathing. Sobs suddenly burst from her throat as tears raced down her cheeks. Now she was practically screaming. Shaking Harry by the shoulders she yelled in to his face, "WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY FAMILY? WHY ARE THEY ALL JUST LYING THERE?" She stopped a moment to catch her breath as the tears continued to course from her eyes. "Tell me, please" she finally whispered, pleading, as she let go of Harry. Now Ginny was standing just like Harry, staring down at her feet, crying silently.

"I killed them," Harry whispered. This caused Ginny's head to shoot up to stare at Harry. "I killed them all. I just wanted him to die. And he did. He just took everyone with him. Why did I survive? Why do I always survive? Oh Ginny, I'm so sorry" Harry's voice trailed off as he sank to the scorched ground around him. Now on his knees he began sobbing loudly and uncontrollably. Ginny understood now why Kelly had looked so sad. McGonagall must have told her of her family's presence at the battle. With tears still running down her cheeks, Ginny sank down next to Harry and let all her grief and anger come pouring out in a scream, head pointed towards the heavens, eyes squeezed shut, hands balled in to fists. This is the picture that would appear in the Daily Profit the next day. The Boy Who Lived and the last remaining member of the Weasley family on the ground in a battlefield littered with bleeding corpses, Harry sobbing at the ground and Ginny screaming at the sky.

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Ginny rolled over on her bed in the Burrow, not wanting to think about it anymore. But wait, this wasn't the burrow anymore. Not in Ginny's mind. The burrow was a happy place filled with smiling and laughing people. It was supposed to house seven men and two women, all living out their lives as the wondrous family they knew they were. But not anymore. To her this house was now just an empty husk of a large building with mismatched walls, holding only one woman and the memories of the family it used to contain.

Ginny looked around the room, only for her eyes to land on her desk, littered with letters from her friends telling her she shouldn't be alone right now. Telling her this was a time to be with friends. She had decided to ignore them all. She needed time to deal and they would just have to deal with that. She glanced up to the mirror on the wall, only to wonder at the woman staring back at her in the moonlight. Not a week ago she had been just a smiling, happy, newly graduated girl without a care in the world. She had only worried about boys and all the other drama of teenagers. The horrible events of her first year were already dealt with and behind her and friends and family surrounded her. Now in the mirror she saw a bedraggled woman of at lest twice her age. The black circles under her eyes never seemed to go away, not to mention the redness in her eyes from crying constantly for three days. Her hair was a matted mess about her shoulders. What would her friends think of her now?

Lying back down, she tried once again to drive these kinds of thoughts from her head. Finally, around 4:00 in the morning, Ginny's desperate body fell asleep, maybe only out of sheer self-defense.

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Three days after the battle, at the same time Ginny Weasley was remembering her arrival on the battlefield, Harry Potter was standing once again on that very battlefield. This time though, the once lovely field was not covered with bodies and blood, but just dirt. The only sign of the happenings three days before were the scattered footprints and scuffmarks in the dirt. Harry didn't know why he was there. For some reason he was just drawn there. Memories of the day of the fight kept him from sleeping basically at all and he would find himself apparating here, to the spot he had stood for only fifteen minutes before Ginny had shown up, and just staring around. Now the events that took place came back to him vividly and he could not stop his thoughts from completing the scene...

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Harry had just finished auror training along with Ron about a week before the battle. The two had not been involved, but from what they heard planning for the battle had been in the works for about three months. A helpful tip from Snape had given them the location and date of the next Death Eater meeting so they had planned their attack. They had decided on bringing all their forces and wiping out all the death eaters and Voldemort all at once. This was a good idea in theory, but the actual battle went far differently than they had expected.

Hiding in the woods at the north end of the field, the group of aurors and Dumbledore (who had come secretly, against Fudge's wishes) lay in wait for the first of the death eaters to show up. The plan was to pick them off as they came, but it didn't work that way. Instead of apparating in to the field, the death eaters came in a march from the south end of the field. At this, the aurors decided to rush out en masse and assault the death eaters, head on.

The battle had only been going on for fifteen minutes when the aurors realized they would need help. They sent a mediwitch to inform the Weasleys, who lived about a mile away, of the battle and enlist their help, along with all the other wizards and witches they could contact to help. It was right as the Weasleys arrived, marching in a straight line for a reason unknown to him, that Harry faced Voldemort. Stopping right behind him, the Weasleys each did a spell to aid Harry by funneling their power in to him. Harry knew in that instant that he would have only one shot to pull this momentous feat off, and he was the only one who could do it. Mustering up all his energy and aided by the energy from the Weasleys, he let loose his attack. He didn't so much cast a spell as fling as much energy at Voldemort as he could in one almighty blast. The bright blue light that emitted from Harry's wand spread and formed a bubble around Voldemort, vaporizing Voldemort's killing curse in midcourse. The bubble began to slowly close around Voldemort and much to Harry's surprise began to shrink him. About the time Voldemort and the bubble were the size of a marble, the small floating object exploded in a shower of green light, letting out a shock wave, knocking down all the people in the field who were still standing. That is, everyone except Harry.

Without looking behind him, Harry knew that all the Weasleys were dead. Looking in front of him momentarily, Harry saw Dumbledore on the ground about ten feet in front of him, his face frozen in a look of triumph. Harry looked down and began to cry.

It was a mere fifteen minutes later that Lucy's family and Ginny showed up to find Harry the lone figure standing in a field of corpses with a single large scorch mark on the ground before him.

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Initially Harry had had a small amount of belief in him that maybe it wasn't his fault that all the people in the field were gone. But time, which usually makes things seem clearer and more rational, had done the opposite for Harry and just made him surer that the deaths were all his doing. He continually told himself that if he hadn't constantly fallen in to the traps Voldemort set for him, Voldemort would have been dead by now and this battle would have never happened. If he had only been smarter and tried harder he could have prevented all of this. If he had used an actual spell instead of the impulsive energy burst he had never used before, he believed more people would have lived.

It was with these thoughts that Harry apparated back to his apartment in London and in to his bedroom. He lay down in his bed, and like Ginny, fought off bad memories while trying to sleep, and finally succeeded in the early hours of the morning with thoughts that maybe the next day would be better.

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End Chapter One


	2. Mona Lisa

Chapter 2: Mona Lisa

"If in the morning you look up, fake a smile and you sigh. Don't fear the future. In the years to come you'll learn. I used to sit and watch the pouring rain. I used to wish to be back home again. I hadn't the strength then. I hadn't the chance to reveal it. But it's all in your hands"

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Ginny didn't want to wake up. The smells coming from the kitchen downstairs were not helping her cause. Ever since Ginny had moved in with Hermione after the battle, Hermione had every once in a while tried to make breakfast for them. The results tended to be less than stellar. After Ron died, Hermione needed someone to be with, and Ginny felt that if she stayed in the burrow too much longer she would go mad. So, about two weeks after the attack, Ginny moved in with Hermione.

'Ugh,' Ginny thought as she pulled herself in to a sitting position and swung her legs to the side of her bed. It had been five years ago today that the battle the Daily Prophet had dubbed "The Battle of Grover's Field" happened, and that was why Ginny didn't want to be awake.

Trying not to think about it, Ginny gathered up some energy and got out of bed. She put on her robe and fuzzy slippers and made her way downstairs. Upon entering the kitchen, she decided to make herself a bowl of cereal, noting the burned eggs and blackened toast on the counter. Sitting down, she glanced at the uncharacteristically quiet and perturbed Hermione.

"What's going on Hermione?" Ginny asked innocently, only barely hiding the smirk that wanted to escape on to her face.

"Don't Ginny," Hermione stated, annoyed, "You know exactly what's going on. Eventually I will master cooking charms and you will rue the day you started all this poking fun at me." Huffing, Hermione stood up and began cleaning up her mess. After a moment she broke the silence. "You letter arrived about an hour ago," she said as she pointed to the folded parchment addressed to her laying on the table.

Ginny didn't have to ask what Hermione was talking about. Every year since the battle, on the anniversary, she was sent a letter containing a single red maple leaf, a piece of birch bark, and a note simply saying, "I'll be waiting for you." She instantly knew what this meant and where this mystery person would be waiting for her. It would be at the battleground. The first year, the feelings were all still too fresh and she couldn't bring herself to go. For the three years after that, Hermione had constantly reminded her that she didn't know who this mystery person was, and couldn't be sure this wasn't some wacko out to get her. Ginny had always had a feeling that this was way off course. Something about the leaves and the bark got to her, made her think that it would be all right.

Noting the contemplative look on Ginny's face, Hermione began to scowl. "You know, I haven't changed my mind bout your mystery sender. I don't think it's safe."

"I know you don't Hermione, but I get the feeling this person means me no harm. I don't know what it is, but it's been five years. I have to go. Today." With that, Ginny stood up, took care of her bowl, and went back upstairs to get ready.

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Harry paced back and forth, grumbling quietly to himself. "If she doesn't come this time, I think I'll just give up. Why would she come? She doesn't know it's me. Why didn't I put my name on the letters? Why did I have to be a weirdo about it? I'm so messed up! Ack!" Harry finished almost yelling at himself and stomping o the ground.

Glancing up Harry almost gasped aloud. There she stood with the most blatant look of surprise and shock on her face that Harry had ever seen in his life. Staring back, looking almost as shocked as she was, Harry began to take in her appearance. This was not the same girl Harry had last seen. Before, Harry had known Ginny Weasley to be a happy smiling girl without a trace of doubt or sadness in her face at any time. This woman seemed to have the doubt and sadness, not to mention fear, permanently tattooed around her eyes. She was no less beautiful than before, but the beauty seemed different. Where once Ginny had seemed warm and soft, she was now hard as stone and cold as ice. She looked as though she hadn't really laughed or even smiled in so long she had forgotten how. Harry jolted at realizing that this was his fault. If not for the cataclysmic events when he defeated Voldemort, she would still be happy. She would still be a warm and soft looking woman. Now she looked beaten.

"Er..hi," Ginny all but whispered, breaking Harry's reverie. "So, it was you all these years?"

Suddenly feeling awkward, and forgetting the speech he had pounded in to his brain for five years, Harry nodded. "Um, yah it was..."

Ginny looked at him oddly then continued. "Ok, was there something you wanted to say? What was with the leaves and the bark?"

Harry almost laughed. Ginny had obviously not looked around at all yet. "Well," Harry began as he turned around, "I planted these." He pointed at the row of trees behind him. There stood a row of eight red maple trees with a single birch tree behind them in the center of the row. "The maples are for your family and the birch is for Dumbledore." As he finished, Harry nervously looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his head.

"They're beautiful," Ginny murmured in awe as she made her way to stand by Harry. "Was this all you wanted, to show me these?" Turning to him, Ginny caught the startled look on Harry's face as she broke him out of his thoughts.

"Well, I-I.." Harry couldn't find the words to express what he wanted to say. How did you tell someone that you were sorry you accidentally killed their entire family? You can't just say it like that. 'There has to be some other way,' Harry thought. Struck by an impulse, Harry grabbed Ginny's had and led her towards one of the trees, pulling her to sit on the ground with him under it. "This is your mother's tree. You see, I talk to them sometimes and I decided I needed to designate who they were for." Harry went on to point out the tree on their left as her father's and the rest to their right all her brothers from oldest to youngest. "I probably sit with Ron the most," Harry said as he finished. "Ever since the battle I've come here almost every day and one day I just got this idea. So now, here we are. I wish you would have come sooner Ginny.."

Ginny looked over to Harry only to see a large amount of pain in his emerald green eyes. Except, where his eyes used to shine with almost a fire within, they were now dull and dark. Ginny instantly felt a deep sorrow for the loss of such fire and life in such a wonderful person. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have all of that on your shoulders. Having to live everyday with that fact that you were the soul survivor of such a horrendous attack.

At that a thought struck her. It was scary, but what if it was true... "Harry, do you think it was your fault? I mean really, do you blame yourself for my family and all those other people?"

"OF COURSE IT WS MY FAULT!" Harry screamed jumping up from the ground and beginning to pace. "Who else's fault could it be? I constantly fell in to his traps and wasn't smart enough to learn from my mistakes. I killed Voldemort. I set that wake loose upon all those people, including you family. I killed them all!!" Harry finished, gasping for breath, tears coursing down his cheeks.

"Don't say that Harry!" Ginny pleaded. "It was not your fault that Voldemort died that way. It was not your fault the battle even happened at all. If you want to go as far back as you seem to, I'll go with you. It was not your fault Voldemort became who he was or was even born. It was not you Harry. You did everything you could to save those people, my family, everyone. You face Voldemort with more courage and valor than all the aurors in the field put together. I don't blame you for anything that happened, and if anyone else does, they're mad and shouldn't be listened to. Please Harry," Ginny begged, "Please..." She finished standing, crying too, holding Harry as rightly as she could. After a moment, Harry squeezed back.

"I know you're right," Harry whispered. "Deep down I think I knew it all along. I think I may have just needed someone to blame, and I was the closest person around. OH Ginny, I wish you had come sooner..." He trailed off, burying his head in the crook of her neck, crying silently, shoulders heaving. Ginny rubbed comforting circles on Harry's back, making shh-ing noises, praying that her and Harry could survive this whole ordeal.

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A/N: I know this chapter was short but it just felt like it needed to end there. Twas the flow of the story I guess. I swear, this story is just writing itself through me. I wrote the first chapter half asleep in my bed. Freaky stuff...


	3. Grin

A/N: I'd like to thank IndiaInk and Joe for reviewing. I love reviews. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Even mean ones. It just means that at least someone is reading my stuff right?

Chapter 3: Grin 

"Absent in the things I've done, for the real Revelations come to people so slow.   
Frightening"

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Ginny woke up smiling. She didn't know the exact details, but she thought she had had a good dream. Also, there were no smells of burnt food coming from the kitchen this morning. Sitting up, Ginny breathed in deeply the smell of the breeze coming through her window. She loved the smell of summer, always so warm and alive. It made her feel the same way.

After a few more minutes of just enjoying the morning smells, Ginny got up and went downstairs. In the kitchen she found Hermione sitting and eating a bowl of cereal. Ginny smirked at her. "Aw Hermione, I was really hoping for toast." She gave a little fake pout and sat down.

"That is not amusing Ginny," Hermione admonished before smiling. "So seem in a good mood this morning."

"Yah I know. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm enjoying it. I think maybe the talk I had with Harry yesterday kind of got some stuff off my chest." She shook her head. "Whatever it was, I'm happy for it. Anyway, I have to go to Diagon Alley today to pick up a couple things. You want to come along?"

"No Ginny, I don't think so. You see, unlike someone I know, I have a job I have to attend to."

Ginny frowned. "I just haven't found anything I want to do yet. Plus, I have time. I still have all the money from after... you know. Anyway, I have to go get ready. I'll see you later right?"

"Yes, probably. Unless I happen to find a hot date and don't come home." Ginny laughed uproariously, walking out the door. "Hey, it could happen," Ginny could hear Hermione yelling as she walked back up the stairs.

Back in her room, still giggling, Ginny began hunting for clothes in her dresser and caught sight of the address Harry had given her the day before. "You know," he had said, "just in case you need to talk or something." Ginny smiled as an idea hit her. 'He could probably use some time out in the world,' she thought. So it was decided, she would invite Harry along for the day. It would be fun.

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Half and hour later, Ginny rolled out of Harry's fireplace on to his living room floor. Frowning, she stood up and dusted herself off.

"Hello, Harry? Are you home?" At this, she heard someone moving around upstairs. This gave Ginny a chance to look around. She noted interestedly that Harry owned a number of muggle items like one of those big black boxes that she knew from her father was called a tellervisor or something like that. He also seemed to have electric lights and a strange whitish box with a panel with a lot of buttons on it sitting in front of it. Curious, Ginny walked towards it. As she was staring at it, the picture on the big white box part changed from a big picture with a dozen little pictures along the side to a little symbol bouncing around on a black background. She immediately decided that this was some strange form of changing artwork. Walking up, she looked down at the panel with the buttons and pressed one of them. The picture instantly changed back to the one big one with the little ones. Perplexed, Ginny pressed more buttons, succeeding only in making the box to emit weird noises every time she pressed a button, not changing the picture like she thought it would. Losing interest and wondering what was taking Harry so long, Ginny walked over to the stairs across the room and yelled up, "Harry, are you up there?"

"Yah, just a second. I'm getting dressed. Is that you Ginny?"

"Yes it is. Now hurry up. I'm getting bored." At this, Ginny heard laughter from somewhere upstairs, and soon Harry appeared at the top of the stairs, still giggling.

"I'm sorry I've bored you, oh unexpected visitor."

"Hey now, you did give me your address. Was I supposed to just pretend I never saw it?"

Harry laughed again then just smiled. "I suppose not. So, what can I do for you?"

"Well," Ginny replied, "I was hoping you wouldn't mind coming to Diagon Alley with me today. I have a couple things to pick up, plus I read about this new shop. It called Muggle Huggles or something like that. I've wanted to go for a while, but I figured I would just get really confused. With you along, I would have someone to explain things to me. Pretty please?" Ginny put on a puppy dog face and looked at Harry beseechingly.

"Well, if you're going to make that face then I suppose I can't say no. So, as I am now fully dressed and ready to face the day, shall we go?"

Smiling, glad to get Harry out of his house, Ginny nodded. "Let's go!"

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Ginny's head was spinning as she walked out of Huggles for Muggles, as she found out it was actually called. She had spotted another one of those whitish picture boxes and Harry explained that it was a computron or some other thing that kind of sounded like that. Anyway, after walking through the whole store and having everything explained to her by Harry, she realized that muggles must be pretty smart because all that stuff was really complicated. She was really thrown by the video games, stunned by that fact that they were like interactive books made entirely of moving pictures; pictures that moved without magic even.

Harry speaking drew Ginny out of her thoughts. She missed it entirely. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said, why don't we get something to eat. We could go over to Hazel's. I hear the pumpkin soup is really good there. After nodding her assent, Ginny walked with Harry across the street and in to Hazel's.

"How about over there?" Ginny asked, motioning towards two rows of booths separated down the middle by a short dividing wall.

"Okay," Harry said, and led them towards one of the booths.

After ordering, Ginny and Harry fell in to easy conversation about their lives since they had graduated, carefully avoiding anything that had to do with the battle. Harry spoke of how hard it was to find an apartment where he could do magic without muggles noticing and still have electricity and cable. Ginny talked about Hermione's breakfast attempts and her complete lack of entertainment. "I tell you," she said conspiratorially, "Hermione doesn't have a single just for fun kind of book. Well, I suppose to Hermione all books are fun but not for the rest of the world. All she has are old dusty spell books that you can hardly read they're so faded. Other than that, she has her old school books and some random books written entirely in runes thrown in their for good measure." At this, Ginny and Harry both laughed. As the laughter died down, the waitress brought their food and their table was silent for the first time in about half an hour.

Ginny was about to ask Harry to pass the ketchup when she heard a piece of the conversation the people on the other side of the divider were having. "So, he just met some random girl in a field? That's weird. I guess he'll be easy picking for Orris then." To Ginny, this man sounded kind of dull.

"Yes, probably. Have you finished getting a list of his friends and family?" This man sounded kind of snooty.

"Not yet. So far I know that he lived with his muggle aunt uncle and cousin until he graduated Hogwarts, but he must not have liked them very much, because he got out as soon as he could." Nearly choking, Ginny realized they were talking about Harry. Looking over, Ginny caught Harry practically shoveling food in to his mouth, completely oblivious to what was going on at the table next to them. Before she could alert him, the men began to stand up to leave. Thinking quickly, Ginny ducked under the table. Reaching up, she yanked Harry's arms down from the table, then pulled him by his hands all the way under.

"Ginny!" Harry yelled, mouth full of food, "What are you doing?!"

"Shh Harry! Be quiet! They might hear you!"

"Who might hear me?" Harry asked still not being quiet enough for Ginny's liking.

"The guys from the table on the other side of the divider from us. Did you hear anything those men said Harry? They were talking about you. They said something about you being easy pickings for someone. If we had stayed up there they would have seen you" Ginny whispered all of this very urgently, then looked up as if she could see through the table, listening for the men to leave.

Harry felt like he should have been very worried, but he was a little distracted. Looking at Ginny, he really couldn't think of much of anything at all really. Nothing but how pretty she looked with her hair all ruffled from sliding down under the table, and how she was still holding his hands. Caught by a sudden urge, Harry leaned over quickly and placed a small kiss on Ginny's mouth.

Ginny instantly looked back down from the table, all thoughts of the other men erased from her mind. She switched instead to staring at Harry with a look of pure shock on her face. At this, Harry leaned forward and kissed her again, longer this time. Ginny was just getting in to it when she realized how crazy this was. Leaning back quickly, she pulled herself back up in to the booth, scooched out, and practically ran from the restaurant, barely noting that the two men were gone.

Harry just leaned slowly back against the seat, still on the floor. He felt pretty happy, but stupid at the same time. With Ginny gone, he could now think properly about what she had said. He saw now that that moment had not exactly been the appropriate kissing moment. That was a moment for frightened waiting and whispered conversation. He now desperately wanted to know what those men had actually said and who he would be easy pickings for. Pushing himself back up on to the seat, he shook his head. 'I'm a complete idiot,' he thought. Standing up, he decided to catch Ginny, apologize, and see if she could fill him in more on this new situation.

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Ginny stopped outside the restaurant, not sure what to do. She knew Harry should be told all of what she heard, but she really didn't want to talk to him right that second. She was too confused. But, he also seemed to be in some danger.

This decided it for Ginny. She would put her own confusion aside and wait by the door. Harry had to come out sometime, at which point she would fill him in on the situation. Sighing, she leaned against the wall a few feet to the right of the door to wait.

A few moments later, Harry came out looking around, probably for her. He quickly spotted her and walked over.

"Well," he said, "I'm glad you didn't run. I'm not as quick as I sued to be." The joke didn't lighten Ginny's mood at all, so Harry just kept on talking, more seriously this time. "Look, Ginny, I'm sor-"

"Not now Harry. We have something more important to talk about. Those guys seemed to be working for someone who is out to get you. We have to figure out who they are and why they want you."

"What exactly did they say?" Harry didn't want to forget the other conversation they needed to have completely, but he decided that this _was_ more important.

"Nothing really important I guess. They're doing a background check on you, and they saw is in the field. The only real info I caught was that someone named Orris was after you. I don't know why, but he is."

"Did you catch what they looked like?"

"Not really. Just a little glimpse. One of them was quite a bit taller than the other. The tall one talked like he was pretty smart, but the shorter one seemed a little off. I didn't really get a good look at their faces. I really didn't want to either, or they would have seen us. Luckily, I pulled you under the table quick enough that they missed us."

Harry sighed, thoughts like 'why me?' and 'It's only been five years, can't I get a little bit longer vacation than that?' ran through his head. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and seized on the moment of silence to get in his apology. "Look, Ginny," he began again, "I'm really sorry about in there. That shouldn't have happened and I apologize."

This kind of hurt Ginny and she didn't quite know why. Frowning she said, "It's ok Harry. Already forgotten." This was a complete lie, but she figured she had to get this stuff out of the way so they could get their investigation started.

For some unknown reason, Harry didn't like the way she had phrased that last statement. 'Oh well' he thought. "Ok then, as long as you're ok with it. Now, let's get on with it shall we? I was thinking maybe we could ask some shop owners around here if they saw anyone different around here lately. It might help us get a better description of them.

"That sounds good," Ginny replied, thinking. Suddenly, she remembered something else. "Oh, Harry. This could help quite a bit. I think they were American."

"That would definitely be helpful. We could go to the ministry and ask Hermione if there have been any new arriving wizards from America." Harry smiled; glad they were already coming up with plans for how to deal with this. Hopefully, this Orris guy wouldn't turn out to be another Voldemort.

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Harry and Ginny split up, each of them taking a side of Diagon Alley, and asking all the store clerks on their side if they had noticed any strange American wizards matching Ginny's description around.

When they were finished, they met up at the door to the leaky cauldron and compared notes.

"Ok," Ginny started, "I got 'no' from basically everybody except the waitress at Hazel's who says that the short one was kind of pudgy with a kind of bulbous nose. She says the tall one had a goatee and huge eyebrows and really skinny lips."

Harry nodded. "Yah, I got mostly 'no's too, but the guy at Flourish a Blott's gave me basically the same description. He also said they bought a book there a couple days ago about scanning spells. I guess they're normally used by aurors when they're interrogating witnesses to get any basic information that the people wouldn't give up. They're apparently mildly difficult to cast, but easier than brewing veritaserum."

"Ok then" Ginny replied. "I guess we know how they got all that information about you. Now all we have to do is find out where they came from exactly."

"Off to visit Hermione then?"

"If we must." Ginny said with a sigh. They both laughed.

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Five minutes later, Ginny and Harry stepped in to the phone booth leading down in to the ministry. They were not really all that close together, but the short distance did remind Ginny of the table incident, so she tried to shove herself as far up against the side of the booth as possible.

It was the same for Harry, who just tried his best to not think about it and relax. He just didn't know why she affected him like she did. 'Well,' he thought, 'It could be because she's beautiful, charming, funny, great to talk to, she's ha-' Harry cut himself off mid-thought, shaking his head. Now was not the time.

At the bottom level, Ginny and Harry exited the booth and headed to she check in point. Stating that they were there to see "Hermione Granger in the Wizarding Immigration, Travel, and Customs Office" they were told to go to the fourth floor to the third door on the right and to have a nice day. Ginny frowned at that. 'That woman was hitting oh Harry' she thought. 'Not that I care' she admonished herself. Pushing those thoughts from her head, she concentrated on the little paper airplane letters that were floating above them in the elevator. Soon they were on the fourth floor and knocking on Hermione's office door.

"Come in!" She called.

Walking in, Ginny smiled. As per Hermione's nature, everything in the office was very organized in neat piles on her desk. She was currently writing what seemed to be a small not on a piece of parchment in front of her, then proceeding to fold it in to a paper airplane. After muttering a spell she said, "Hold the door please," and sent the paper airplane flying out of the office. Finally looking at Ginny and Harry, obviously glad to see them, Hermione said, "So what are you two doing here?"

Harry began, "We have something very important to talk to you about." After this, Harry told Hermione the whole tale of the men in the restaurant and the research they did in Diagon Alley, carefully omitting the kissing part.

By the end Hermione was frowning fiercely and looking through a stack of papers to her right. "Ah ha!" she called after a minute of two. "I've found it!" Holding up the paper, Ginny instantly recognized the two men from the restaurant from the descriptions her and Harry had both received.

"Excellent!" Ginny said. "Now, does it say where they came from?

"Oh yes. These are the copies that are always made of wizards' passports when they enter the country. They show their country of residence along with a picture, date of birth, their country of birth, and their current address. It says here that both men were born and raised in America, and currently reside in Los Angeles California. The tall one's name is Robert Kraft and the short one's name is Kyle Miller. According to our logs, they came in to the country one week ago. That's all the information this office gets when a wizard comes in to the country. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. I'm really worried about you Harry." This last statement was Hermione's first non-business one and Harry appreciated it. He had been feeling like he hadn't been best friends with this woman for the greater part of his existence.

"Don't worry about it," Harry said. "If you hear anything else about them around the building or remember something else you might have, just let us know ok? You really were a big help." Harry smiled and turned towards Ginny. "What do you think?'

"I think this is going pretty well for having just found out about this today. I just have one question for you Hermione."

"And that would be?"

"Did you find that hot date yet?" Hermione blushed at this and Harry just looked confused.

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A few minutes later, Harry and Ginny were outside the ministry building, ready to go their separate ways. It was late, had already been dark out for about an hour. They had both decided that the search would continue the next day.

"Well," Harry said.

"Yes, well," Ginny replied. For some reason the situation had just become really awkward. "I guess I'll call you tomorrow and we can see if we can find any more leads on these guys and their boss."

"Yah, that sounds good. See you tomorrow then?"

"Yup. Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Ginny." Before she could apparate out, Harry leaned over and gave Ginny a quick peck on the cheek. Before she could react, Harry apparated out leaving a stunned Ginny behind.

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End Chapter 3


	4. Keep it Together

**A/N: Thank you, Indiaink, for continuing to review. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that someone is reading my story.....ï **   
Chapter 4: Keep it Together 

"So far away from everyone, and everything starts today. Let's keep it together. Can we keep it together?"

Ginny was confused. Not really about who this Orris guy was that was after Harry and what he could want from him, but mostly her feelings towards Harry. When he had kissed her under the table it had sent her mind spinning. She had completely forgotten where she was and what she was doing and just responded. That scared her more than anything. How could anything make her lose herself that quickly and completely?

She shook her head to clear those thoughts from her mind and looked down at her coffee. Getting up that morning, she noticed that Hermione was not around. 'Well,' she'd thought, 'Guess she found that hot date after all.' After that, she just continued about the kitchen, making coffee and generally just waking up. Now she was fully awake and wondering about contacting Harry. What could they do today? What new leads could they possibly find?

Still racking her brain for solutions and reasons to call off her meeting with Harry for today, even if he was _probably_ in danger, she heard a noise from the living room. Upon entering, she found a very sooty and generally disheveled Harry sitting on the living room floor. As she got closer, she could see that he held a parchment in his hands and was looking very solemn.

"What's happened Harry? What's going on?" Upon getting no response, Ginny dropped down on the carpet with him and looked imploringly in to his eyes. At this he only motioned to the parchment now lying face down on the floor. Picking it up, she read it quickly.

_Mr. Potter,_

_So glad to finally be in communication with you. I hear you've been checking up on my boys over there. How rude of you. That just ruins the surprise of the whole thing now doesn't it? Yes, definitely._

_Now, here is what the problem now is. I was going to just come over there and take what I want, but due to your lack of compliance with propriety, I will be forced to have you come here. _

_I know now you might be thinking, 'I don't have to do what he asks me to,' but I have a solution to my problem. My men, that you ever so offensively looked in to, have also been looking in to you. They have found that you really only have one friend left. I found that curious, frankly, but I let it go and monopolized on the situation. _

_I have had my men bring your friend, the lovely Ms. Granger, to my residence in Los Angeles. I do hope you mind having to come all the way here. You greatly displeased me with your lack of tact. _

_I would request that you be in the restaurant just down the street to the north from the portkey point here in Los Angeles at noon sharp. If you do not, I will be forced to send yet more men to apprehend you and that interesting red head that my men for some reason know nothing about. If you do decide to come, you may bring her if you wish. The more the merrier, as I like to say. Also, should you decide to opt out of our little appointment, Ms. Granger will be done away with, and I would hate for that to happen. Alerting the authorities to our little matter will result in the same consequences for your friend. So please, Mr. Potter, do be quick about it._

_Awaiting Your Arrival,_

_Orris_

Ginny paled at the mention of Hermione. How could she be so stupid? Of course Hermione hadn't gotten the hot date. Not for lack of ability, but if she had, she would have sent or left a note of some sort, something to let Ginny know where she was. Glancing at the clock, Ginny did the math in her head and noted that it would be 9:30 in California. They still had two and a half hours, but they would need to leave immediately for the portkey terminal.

Finishing the letter, she looked at Harry. She saw he was still just sitting on the floor, now staring at the carpet as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Are you alright?" Ginny asked quietly. Before continuing on, Ginny reminded herself that they were in a hurry, and gentleness with Harry was not of the utmost importance at the moment. "If you're not, you're going to need to get over it. Hermione is in trouble. We need to go help her. For some reason, he knows even more about you than the scanning spells could get out of you. That scares me, but we can't worry about that now. Right now, we need to get to the portkey terminal and get to L.A. before it's too late." Harry was still staring listlessly at the floor. Yelling now, Ginny was silently hoping Harry's last thread hadn't broken. "SNAP OUT OF IT HARRY! WE HAVE TO GO!!" This time Harry did look up.

"This is all my fault. I should just leave you here and let that man have me. I cause too much trouble for everyone around me. I'll go Ginny, I'll make sure Hermione gets home safely, but you are staying here. This is my problem."

Ginny snorted. "Get over yourself Harry. You do not cause these problems. These crazies are out there all the time and would do something like this eventually, with or without you. Also, Hermione is my friend too, and I'm not going to leave her with that crazy man and just sit here, twiddling my thumbs and hoping you can do this by yourself. I'm coming with you and we're leaving now. So stop it with the self-pity, get up, and let's get going. We're running out of time." With this, Ginny strode towards the door, stopping only to give the smallest of glances to her house that she may never see again, and make a hurrying gesture towards Harry. Walking out the door, she hoped she knew what she was getting in to.

Harry looked up as he caught Ginny out of the corner of his eye, stopping just before the door. She cast a quick glance around the room then motioned for him to follow. All he could do was obey. Ginny was right, this was not his fault. Hermione needed him, and he was going to help her, no matter what happened.

Running after Ginny, Harry marveled at the strength of this woman and the fact that he had never noticed it before.

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Hermione couldn't breathe properly. She was panicky, not to mention there was a ball of cloth about the size of a softball shoved in to her mouth. Once again struggling against the bindings at her wrists, and once again succeeding only in giving herself rope burns on her wrists, Hermione cursed her stupidity in relation to the events that had landed her in this terrifying situation.

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Hermione sighed as she walked in the side door of the simple house she now shared with Ginny. Hermione wished she could escape it. The whole house was filled with memories of the times she had had with Ron. Every nook and cranny and piece of anything in the house seemed to remind her of a different event or joke or anything she had shared with him, and each and every time these memories brought a stab of pain to the center of her chest.

But she couldn't leave. She couldn't abandon the house she had shared with Ron, even for the short amount of time it had been. Not to mention, she couldn't leave Ginny with nowhere to go. Looking around the kitchen as she passed through, Hermione silently prayed for an end to this madness inside herself.

It was then that it happened.

Just as she walked over the threshold in to the living room, a man jumped out from either side of the door; one from the right and the stairs, the other from the left and the couch. Startled, Hermione tried vainly to reach for her wand, only to realize the had left it in the kitchen.

She was grabbed from the left and turned to face the man on her right. With her hands held behind her back and her feet already bound by the man now in front of her, Hermione started to scream and struggle wildly, only to be cut of by a leather-gloved hand over her mouth and a petrification charm from the same man who had magically bound her legs.

Before she could think of anything more to do, the man in front of her yelled "Stupefy!" and Hermione was out cold.

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Now, ending her struggles against her bindings and just laying on the cold stone floor, her wrists and ankles bound with magically protected and very thick ropes, Hermione could think of no way out. The only light was from a small window about ten feet from the floor. From the quality of the light, Hermione judged that it was almost midday. She had been observing this light constantly since she had awoken what seemed like a few hours ago to her.

Still staring at the window, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of keys rattling in a lock in the door to the room. Suddenly very alert, Hermione pulled herself up and propped herself against the wall, waiting for the door to open and maybe reveal something about her captor.

She did not have to wait long. Within seconds, the door opened revealing a tall slender man with shockingly white hair down to his waist. He wore a perfectly cut all black suit that provided great contrast to the fairness of his skin and his shining hair. Hermione was stunned by how beautiful his face was. His face seemed to be that of an angel. All, except, for the cold blackness of his eyes. Staring at her from across the room, Hermione could tell that this man could have nothing but evil and greed in his soul.

After all this sank in, Hermione was suddenly more afraid than even when she was attacked and she pulled herself up in to a ball against the wall. The man across from her chuckled.

"Do not fear me dear. I mean you no harm." He grinned at this. "That is, unless your friend, the esteemed Mr. Potter, deems not to attend our little meeting." Hermione gasped at the mention of Harry.

"What are you talking about? Who are you? Why did you bring me here? Where are we?" This caused this strange man to laugh, yet again.

"All in due time my dear. First things first, let's get you untied." Pulling out a wand, he muttered a few words and the ropes binding Hermione vanished. "You will find that you cannot escape this building without my blessing."

Still very wary of the man in front of her, Hermione slowly stood up and stretched her tight muscles. As she was doing this, it finally registered to her that this man had an American accent. Suddenly very much more suspicious, Hermione glared at the man across the room and asked, "Could you at lest give me a generalization as to where we are?"

"Why, America of course my dear. California to be exact, and LA to be even more precise. And also, Miss granger, I would have thought you would have noticed my accent sooner. My researchers took you to be intelligent." He tutted at this. "Too bad they were wrong. We would have had so much to talk about." This he said walking out the door.

Right before it closed Hermione yelled, "who are you?" one more time.

The man opened the door fully again and gave a huge smile. "Why, my lady, I am Orris. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He bowed and exited the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

Hermione, however, noticed none of this, as, at the mention of the man's name, Hermione had promptly fainted.

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Harry was still in a little bit of shock, but it was quickly wearing off in the hurry to the portkey station. After apparating there, it took Harry and Ginny about an hour to get through all the security. Harry could practically feel every irretrievable second of this time drag agonizingly by as he itched to keep moving. It was pure torture to go through all of this when Harry knew Hermione was in danger. Lost in thought and panic, Harry missed Ginny staring at him.

"Calm down Harry," Ginny said, shocking Harry out of his reverie. Ginny smiled soothingly as she saw Harry finally back in the real world. "We're almost through. We have plenty of time left. Please, just stop thinking about it." Ginny didn't believe the words that she was spouting to Harry. They didn't have that much time and she was experiencing the same agony as Harry. She just wasn't showing it so horribly.

After ten more painful minutes spent waiting for the portkey to be ready and restlessly shifting around in his seat, Harry was relieved when the door to their portkey room was opened and the six people going to California filed in. Harry felt lucky there were so few people with them. He wouldn't have been able to handle the ogling in the same pleasant and controlled manner as usual with so much stress. Also, Ginny was now looking a little worse for the wear, and Harry remembered how little Ginny liked to travel by portkey. He didn't get much time to think about this, however, as almost the second he and Ginny got in the circle around the portkey, he felt the familiar tug behind his navel and the rushing began. Through all this commotion, Harry felt Ginny grab on to his free hand with hers, locking it in a death grip.

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The portkey dropped Harry and Ginny in to a room covered in tile. The tiles were about a square foot in area and white.

"Ummm, Ginny?" Harry whispered. "Where is everybody else?"

Ginny, still shaken from the effects of the portkey journey, now looked at the room around them and began to panic. The other four people with them had disappeared and there was no door in the room they wee in. "I don't know Harry, but this doesn't seem good." Right after Ginny finished her sentence, the wall in front of her began to move. Ginny was now in a full panic, squeezing the hand in hers that she had not let go of after they had landed. Pointing in front of her she squeaked, "Harry, look!"

Directly in front of Ginny and Harry, a panel of tiles three wide and seven high slid away from them and then to the right, revealing a tall man, standing in the shadows beyond.


End file.
